pizzakid13
10-10-2005, 01:16 PM
i was all set to but the samsung 50 DLP. i was in costco and saw the philips 37 LCD in my price range. i have always been very impressed with the flat panel display but couldn't afford the bigger sizes. i know i would be sacrificing overall screen size but i just find the picture superior to any of the projections. i am looking for some techie expertise as well. Cnet has not reviewed the set but there are a couple user opinions that are very high. here is one:
Pros
OUTSTANDING picture beats Sharp, HDTV tuner, HDMI inputs, CableCARD, decent remote, good value
Cons
Lacks "TV Guide On Screen", menus a bit complex.
The Bottom Line
Outstanding picture quality & connectivity: the Philips 37PF7320A leads the field in 37" LCD sets. Great value for the money and loaded with good features. A little complex perhaps.
Full Review
OVERVIEW
The 37PF7320A/37 is Philips' newest high definition TV in a 37" range. This is a TRUE high definition TV not a "HD capable" set (which is just a fancy name for a high-resolution monitor that needs a tuner). The 37PF7320A/37 has a built in ATSC tuner for off the air HD reception using a TV antenna, a QAM tuner for picking up digital TV channels, and an NTSC tuner for picking up analog signals in standard definition. This TV has it all. Compare that when you are shopping sets ... you really want one with all 3 tuners in it. This TV also is "digital cable ready" which means with a CableCARD inserted it will pick up all cable TV channels that you bought without the need of a set top box from your cable company. More on that later.
In short this to my eyes has the best picture of any LCD set I have seen. I did not credit Philips with such a high quality set before this but in the LCD field they are one of the top names and are responsible for a lot of the technical innovations as well.
I am not going to copy all the specs for this TV set because they are available from the Philips web site or from a lot of shops like Best Buy and Circuit City and from sites like CNET. I will talk you through the key and the useful features and explain why I like this set.
WHERE TO GET IT
Prices vary all the time but right now the price leader is Costco warehouse club that sells it for $2,499 (and a 2% discount if you're an Executive member). This week Circuit City has the set for $2,519 which is a darn good price also for a brick and mortar store. Philips are cheaper list price than the Sharp Aquos but some of the internet sites heavily discount the Aquos. Please people buy from an authorized dealer of whatever brand because if you have warranty problems the dealer can stand with you. Most of these sets have in home service but not if it's gray market.
PICTURE QUALITY
This is the biggest thing that people look at in a flat screen TV. The gold standard of LCD's these days seems to be the Sharp Aquos line. Well I can tell you I had this set side by side with the Aqcos, and the Philips has a better picture quality. It is astounding. The blacks are darker and the colors are crisper on the Philips. The picture is great with component video inputs -- but with the new style HDMI connector which is all-digital, the picture is astounding. It will blow you away. At Costco a warehouse store full of plasma and LCD sets this Philips was a stunner. They were sold out of them and I had to way. I think they just introduced this set a month or so ago.
STANDARD DEFINITION QUALITY
Let's face it HDTV is the wave of the future and someday all channels will be broadcast in 720p -- but for now there are only about a dozen HD channels available for digital cable TV and maybe 20 for satellite systems. That means most of your digital channels are broadcast in standard definition. So the quality of the display really makes a difference. This is an area where the Philips LCD really shines as compared with a lot of other sets. The Philips does a great job of displaying all digital content including the standard definition. You should not pay $2,500 and then most of the channels that are non-HD look like there is something wrong with your set.
DISPLAY MODES
Since this is a 16:9 format set and standard definition is in the 4:3 format, the scaling options have a lot to do with how well you will like your HD TV set. And I sure as heck don't want to see black bars on the sides of the screen though this is one of the options. There are many options on the Philips set: Automatic,
Super Zoom, 4:3, Movie expand 14:9, Movie expand 16:9, 16:9 subtitle, and Wide Screen. Let me explain these. Automatic which is what I keep it set on most of the time, makes the image fill the screen and removes the black bars. There is some stretching of people but they do a good job of keeping it to a minimum. Super Zoom is similar but it is alway like that. Movie expand is a bit different: intsead of stretching the image sideways it crops the image on the top and bottom of the screen. This means there is no horizontal distortion but you are missing a bit of the top and bottom. If you are watching Fox News or something this is a good setting because the banner on the bottom of the scren is what gets chopped off. 4:3 format gives you the grey bars on the screen on the left & right. In other words you paid for a wide screen but it is showing a narrow screen like a conventional TV -- The less said about that the better. 14:9 subtitle and 16:9 subtitle I don't quite understand yet ... sorry. 16:9 is for HD content or for widescreen movies from you DVD. Since the original content was that way.
HDMI inputs -- why HDMI?
This is the latest technology for sending all-digital signal to a TV set and Philips is one of the pioneers of this technology. HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) combines the digital video signal and Dolby 5.1 digital into 1 cable. That's right folks just one cable goes from your cable box, DVR or DVD player right into the TV set. This gets rid of the rats nest of wires behind the set and your stereo receiver. There is also an optical digital audio out cable so you can go out from your TV set and in to your home theater receiver. HDMI also includes copy protection to help prevent theft of service.
HDMI replaces what used to be the highest quality inputs for HDTV, the 3 component video inputs. HDMI sends a digital signal right into the TV. So instead of having 3 component video inputs and 2 audio inputs -- 5 wires, yikes -- it all gets replace by just one cable. The picture quality is far better too when compared with the component video inputs. At Costco the guy showed me the TV using a high definition signal with the component video inputs, and the picture was fantastic. But, after switching to the HDMI I was astounded at the difference. Every pixel on the screen seemed locked into place. It is similar to having a VGA analog monitor and then switching it to the digital DVI inputs. Wow what a difference.
Another little known feature of HDMI is that it is two way: the TV is talking to the DVD player or cable box, so that the right picture format (resolution and display size) are set AUTOMATICALLY. No need to fumble around setting all the format settings on your DVD and TV to match.
DIGITAL CABLE READY & CableCARD what does this mean?
This Philips 37PF7320A and I believe all the newer sets, will be going to digital cable ready. What this means is, you can get rid of the set top box from your cable company, and plug the coax cable right into your set. Now even very old color TV's have a coax antenna input, so how is this different. The difference is digital cable ready lets you do this with DIGITAL CABLE changes even the scrambled premium services like HBO and SHOWTIME. Instead of the cable box your cable company provides a CableCARD which fits into a slot on the back of your set. It is like a PC-card that you use on laptops. This card is specific to your cable company and replaces the set top box. The big advantage is that the TV SET not the cable box, does all the signal decoding and formatting the various screen sizes. A newer TV set can do a much better job than the cable box. Even the "standard definition" channels look a lot better with a CableCARD than they do with a set top box. I have not yet scheduled the cable company to install the CableCARD. My cable company is Charter and they charge $1.50 a month to rent the CableCARD and $3.99 a month for the HD channels. Whereas renting a cable box is $7 as month so you do save money.
The downside is that CableCARD does not support Pay Per View or the interactive programming guide. Several HDTV makers including Sharp now support "TV Guide On Screen" which puts an 8 day programming guide right on your TV set. This is a great feature -- unfortunately the Philips product does not support this feature. Which is the one major failing with this set -- you can't press GUIDE. I am willing to give this up though in return for a clearer picture with CableCARD.
COMPARABLE SETS
Since high definition TV especially LCD is still fairly new there is a lot of learning curve I investigate all of the following sets and maybe this will help you in your comparison shopping. I mention the cons I found because to you they might not be a con. These are all fine sets worthy of consideration
Sharp LC 37D5U -- Great picture still not as nice as the Philips though. Concerned about problems with CableCARD compatibility with the Sharp sets. Have to switch inputs on the remote to DIGITAL go above channel 84. Has "TV Guide On Screen" though. Note if you use a DVR or other cable box or use satellite TV this set is still a fine choice -- just not with a CableCARD.
JVC LT-37X776 -- Analog NTSC and digital ATSC tuners require 2 different jacks and selecting 2 different inputs on the remote. If your "digital cable" provider is really analog channels on the 2 digit channels and digital on channels 100 like mine, this would be a major pain in the neck. Same problem as the Sharp. Disappointing as I have a JVC home theater receiver and the CompuLINK feature of JVC that ties their branded components together nicely would make the JVC TV a good fit. LAcks TV Guide On Sreen
Panasonic TC-32LX20 (???) TOO SMALL -- great in every other area but Panasonic does not offer LCD televisions bigger than 32"!! Yes I know they are the leader in plasma sets but I am not looking for a plasma sets.
Sony anything (???) -- a latecomer to LCD sets their prices are very high and they are behing the market in many areas. I have a flat panel monitor on my computer though.
I did not spend any time looking at Samsung or LG.
FIRMWARE UPGRADES
The Philips is unique in that they let you do firmware upgrades yourself so the set is always current. I have not upgraded the firmware yet but it looks very easy. There is a USB 1.1 port on the side of the set. You simply download the firmware update file onto a USB "thumb drive" for example a Sandisk Cruzer on your PC, then plug the thumb drive into the TV Set. The TV automatically recognizes the new firmware upgrade and takes you through the upgrade process. This is a great feature considering that there are a lot of new technologies on this set like HDMI and CableCARD. Kudos to the Philips company for making it easy to upgrade your set.
REMOTE CONTROL AND MENUS
The remote is pretty good on this set. It is easy to figure out the buttons and how to operate the TV. It is a univeral remote which will operate your cable box and DVD player and stereo also. The on screen system of menus on the other hand is a little bit complex. There is a tremendous amount of control you get with this set but you have to wade through the menus to do it. Not confusing exactly, but a bit complex Just to set the clock for example. It does have an auto clock set feature which is A Good Thing but to get there you have to go Setup --> Clock --> Auto clock set. It would be nice if there was an EASY SET UP page where the most common settings were all on one page. The user manual explains everything though. In fairness a lot or most of these settings you only set up once.
USING THE USB WITH DIGITAL CAMERAS AND THUMB DRIVES
This TV lets you plug in a USB thumb drive or a digital camera, and the TV will automatically create a slide show for you that will display all the pictures. The effect is beautiful. Some sets have a card reader but and actual USB input like the Philips is a step above in my opinion. You can go right from the digital camera to the set using the camera's USB cable no need to open the camera and take out a card. I believe you can also use a USB card reader from your PC but have not tried it.
AUDIO SYSTEM
The stereo speakers are on the side of the set which is good. I don't like bottom mounted speakers you get a much better stereo effect with left and right side speakers especially with a wide TV set. Now since this is an HD set many of you will use it with a home theater setup and use the optical cable output to your receiver. But you know what? Most of the time the built in speakers are just fine. The thing is LOUD -- 30 Watts RMS Baby. My receiver in college dorm was not that loud. There is automatic volume control that turns down the commercials but for some reason it only works on analog channels which is a shame. You can also adjust the volume of each individual channel through the menus but that is complex and not sure how useful. Me? If a channel is too loud I just turn down the volume.
Recommended
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2499
Pros
OUTSTANDING picture beats Sharp, HDTV tuner, HDMI inputs, CableCARD, decent remote, good value
Cons
Lacks "TV Guide On Screen", menus a bit complex.
The Bottom Line
Outstanding picture quality & connectivity: the Philips 37PF7320A leads the field in 37" LCD sets. Great value for the money and loaded with good features. A little complex perhaps.
Full Review
OVERVIEW
The 37PF7320A/37 is Philips' newest high definition TV in a 37" range. This is a TRUE high definition TV not a "HD capable" set (which is just a fancy name for a high-resolution monitor that needs a tuner). The 37PF7320A/37 has a built in ATSC tuner for off the air HD reception using a TV antenna, a QAM tuner for picking up digital TV channels, and an NTSC tuner for picking up analog signals in standard definition. This TV has it all. Compare that when you are shopping sets ... you really want one with all 3 tuners in it. This TV also is "digital cable ready" which means with a CableCARD inserted it will pick up all cable TV channels that you bought without the need of a set top box from your cable company. More on that later.
In short this to my eyes has the best picture of any LCD set I have seen. I did not credit Philips with such a high quality set before this but in the LCD field they are one of the top names and are responsible for a lot of the technical innovations as well.
I am not going to copy all the specs for this TV set because they are available from the Philips web site or from a lot of shops like Best Buy and Circuit City and from sites like CNET. I will talk you through the key and the useful features and explain why I like this set.
WHERE TO GET IT
Prices vary all the time but right now the price leader is Costco warehouse club that sells it for $2,499 (and a 2% discount if you're an Executive member). This week Circuit City has the set for $2,519 which is a darn good price also for a brick and mortar store. Philips are cheaper list price than the Sharp Aquos but some of the internet sites heavily discount the Aquos. Please people buy from an authorized dealer of whatever brand because if you have warranty problems the dealer can stand with you. Most of these sets have in home service but not if it's gray market.
PICTURE QUALITY
This is the biggest thing that people look at in a flat screen TV. The gold standard of LCD's these days seems to be the Sharp Aquos line. Well I can tell you I had this set side by side with the Aqcos, and the Philips has a better picture quality. It is astounding. The blacks are darker and the colors are crisper on the Philips. The picture is great with component video inputs -- but with the new style HDMI connector which is all-digital, the picture is astounding. It will blow you away. At Costco a warehouse store full of plasma and LCD sets this Philips was a stunner. They were sold out of them and I had to way. I think they just introduced this set a month or so ago.
STANDARD DEFINITION QUALITY
Let's face it HDTV is the wave of the future and someday all channels will be broadcast in 720p -- but for now there are only about a dozen HD channels available for digital cable TV and maybe 20 for satellite systems. That means most of your digital channels are broadcast in standard definition. So the quality of the display really makes a difference. This is an area where the Philips LCD really shines as compared with a lot of other sets. The Philips does a great job of displaying all digital content including the standard definition. You should not pay $2,500 and then most of the channels that are non-HD look like there is something wrong with your set.
DISPLAY MODES
Since this is a 16:9 format set and standard definition is in the 4:3 format, the scaling options have a lot to do with how well you will like your HD TV set. And I sure as heck don't want to see black bars on the sides of the screen though this is one of the options. There are many options on the Philips set: Automatic,
Super Zoom, 4:3, Movie expand 14:9, Movie expand 16:9, 16:9 subtitle, and Wide Screen. Let me explain these. Automatic which is what I keep it set on most of the time, makes the image fill the screen and removes the black bars. There is some stretching of people but they do a good job of keeping it to a minimum. Super Zoom is similar but it is alway like that. Movie expand is a bit different: intsead of stretching the image sideways it crops the image on the top and bottom of the screen. This means there is no horizontal distortion but you are missing a bit of the top and bottom. If you are watching Fox News or something this is a good setting because the banner on the bottom of the scren is what gets chopped off. 4:3 format gives you the grey bars on the screen on the left & right. In other words you paid for a wide screen but it is showing a narrow screen like a conventional TV -- The less said about that the better. 14:9 subtitle and 16:9 subtitle I don't quite understand yet ... sorry. 16:9 is for HD content or for widescreen movies from you DVD. Since the original content was that way.
HDMI inputs -- why HDMI?
This is the latest technology for sending all-digital signal to a TV set and Philips is one of the pioneers of this technology. HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) combines the digital video signal and Dolby 5.1 digital into 1 cable. That's right folks just one cable goes from your cable box, DVR or DVD player right into the TV set. This gets rid of the rats nest of wires behind the set and your stereo receiver. There is also an optical digital audio out cable so you can go out from your TV set and in to your home theater receiver. HDMI also includes copy protection to help prevent theft of service.
HDMI replaces what used to be the highest quality inputs for HDTV, the 3 component video inputs. HDMI sends a digital signal right into the TV. So instead of having 3 component video inputs and 2 audio inputs -- 5 wires, yikes -- it all gets replace by just one cable. The picture quality is far better too when compared with the component video inputs. At Costco the guy showed me the TV using a high definition signal with the component video inputs, and the picture was fantastic. But, after switching to the HDMI I was astounded at the difference. Every pixel on the screen seemed locked into place. It is similar to having a VGA analog monitor and then switching it to the digital DVI inputs. Wow what a difference.
Another little known feature of HDMI is that it is two way: the TV is talking to the DVD player or cable box, so that the right picture format (resolution and display size) are set AUTOMATICALLY. No need to fumble around setting all the format settings on your DVD and TV to match.
DIGITAL CABLE READY & CableCARD what does this mean?
This Philips 37PF7320A and I believe all the newer sets, will be going to digital cable ready. What this means is, you can get rid of the set top box from your cable company, and plug the coax cable right into your set. Now even very old color TV's have a coax antenna input, so how is this different. The difference is digital cable ready lets you do this with DIGITAL CABLE changes even the scrambled premium services like HBO and SHOWTIME. Instead of the cable box your cable company provides a CableCARD which fits into a slot on the back of your set. It is like a PC-card that you use on laptops. This card is specific to your cable company and replaces the set top box. The big advantage is that the TV SET not the cable box, does all the signal decoding and formatting the various screen sizes. A newer TV set can do a much better job than the cable box. Even the "standard definition" channels look a lot better with a CableCARD than they do with a set top box. I have not yet scheduled the cable company to install the CableCARD. My cable company is Charter and they charge $1.50 a month to rent the CableCARD and $3.99 a month for the HD channels. Whereas renting a cable box is $7 as month so you do save money.
The downside is that CableCARD does not support Pay Per View or the interactive programming guide. Several HDTV makers including Sharp now support "TV Guide On Screen" which puts an 8 day programming guide right on your TV set. This is a great feature -- unfortunately the Philips product does not support this feature. Which is the one major failing with this set -- you can't press GUIDE. I am willing to give this up though in return for a clearer picture with CableCARD.
COMPARABLE SETS
Since high definition TV especially LCD is still fairly new there is a lot of learning curve I investigate all of the following sets and maybe this will help you in your comparison shopping. I mention the cons I found because to you they might not be a con. These are all fine sets worthy of consideration
Sharp LC 37D5U -- Great picture still not as nice as the Philips though. Concerned about problems with CableCARD compatibility with the Sharp sets. Have to switch inputs on the remote to DIGITAL go above channel 84. Has "TV Guide On Screen" though. Note if you use a DVR or other cable box or use satellite TV this set is still a fine choice -- just not with a CableCARD.
JVC LT-37X776 -- Analog NTSC and digital ATSC tuners require 2 different jacks and selecting 2 different inputs on the remote. If your "digital cable" provider is really analog channels on the 2 digit channels and digital on channels 100 like mine, this would be a major pain in the neck. Same problem as the Sharp. Disappointing as I have a JVC home theater receiver and the CompuLINK feature of JVC that ties their branded components together nicely would make the JVC TV a good fit. LAcks TV Guide On Sreen
Panasonic TC-32LX20 (???) TOO SMALL -- great in every other area but Panasonic does not offer LCD televisions bigger than 32"!! Yes I know they are the leader in plasma sets but I am not looking for a plasma sets.
Sony anything (???) -- a latecomer to LCD sets their prices are very high and they are behing the market in many areas. I have a flat panel monitor on my computer though.
I did not spend any time looking at Samsung or LG.
FIRMWARE UPGRADES
The Philips is unique in that they let you do firmware upgrades yourself so the set is always current. I have not upgraded the firmware yet but it looks very easy. There is a USB 1.1 port on the side of the set. You simply download the firmware update file onto a USB "thumb drive" for example a Sandisk Cruzer on your PC, then plug the thumb drive into the TV Set. The TV automatically recognizes the new firmware upgrade and takes you through the upgrade process. This is a great feature considering that there are a lot of new technologies on this set like HDMI and CableCARD. Kudos to the Philips company for making it easy to upgrade your set.
REMOTE CONTROL AND MENUS
The remote is pretty good on this set. It is easy to figure out the buttons and how to operate the TV. It is a univeral remote which will operate your cable box and DVD player and stereo also. The on screen system of menus on the other hand is a little bit complex. There is a tremendous amount of control you get with this set but you have to wade through the menus to do it. Not confusing exactly, but a bit complex Just to set the clock for example. It does have an auto clock set feature which is A Good Thing but to get there you have to go Setup --> Clock --> Auto clock set. It would be nice if there was an EASY SET UP page where the most common settings were all on one page. The user manual explains everything though. In fairness a lot or most of these settings you only set up once.
USING THE USB WITH DIGITAL CAMERAS AND THUMB DRIVES
This TV lets you plug in a USB thumb drive or a digital camera, and the TV will automatically create a slide show for you that will display all the pictures. The effect is beautiful. Some sets have a card reader but and actual USB input like the Philips is a step above in my opinion. You can go right from the digital camera to the set using the camera's USB cable no need to open the camera and take out a card. I believe you can also use a USB card reader from your PC but have not tried it.
AUDIO SYSTEM
The stereo speakers are on the side of the set which is good. I don't like bottom mounted speakers you get a much better stereo effect with left and right side speakers especially with a wide TV set. Now since this is an HD set many of you will use it with a home theater setup and use the optical cable output to your receiver. But you know what? Most of the time the built in speakers are just fine. The thing is LOUD -- 30 Watts RMS Baby. My receiver in college dorm was not that loud. There is automatic volume control that turns down the commercials but for some reason it only works on analog channels which is a shame. You can also adjust the volume of each individual channel through the menus but that is complex and not sure how useful. Me? If a channel is too loud I just turn down the volume.
Recommended
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2499